Friday, July 27, 2007

Several years ago, we decided to get the boys Loft Beds, so that they could use the space underneath to play. We envisioned them making forts underneath, and having lots of extra floor space to play because the bed wasn't taking up most of it.

For the most part, this was true. Coram never got his loft bed, because with some gross and fine motor issues, the doctor recommended against it. However, Lucas has one, and the boys have done some really neat things under it. They have created forts with blankets draped all over, and have use it as a 'stage' with curtains draped on either side. They even made a three storey fort with a basement and an attic!

Sampson, the worlds most docile cat, is often hauledd into these forts and made to 'sleep' in the basement. I would feel sorry for him, but he is such a suck he just loves the attention.

Currently, Lucas has a world of stuffed animals under his loft bed. Or should I say, he DID have one.

You see, one place where loft beds really let you down is when you need to get off of them in an urgent situation. Like, say, when you need to vomit.

Yes, it's true, the vomit-fest continues. We thought it was over, with a two day reprieve, but last night at 3 am we heard 'I VOMITED!' from Lucas' room. Poor little guy didn't have a chance to get out of bed.

And the blankets, mattress, pillow, wall, and stuffiest below the bed didn't have a chance either.

I spent an hour bagging up, sorting between what can be washed and what is just not savable. Happily, most of it can be washed. Lucas is very attached to his stuffed animals, and was very distraught at the idea of losing many of them.

Monday, July 23, 2007

OK, so we all know I am trying to reduce my impact on the environment. And since I have read what a huge energy drain the clothes dryer is, you'd think I would be more interested in trying life without one.

You see, our dryer broke. Two days ago. While I was at work. I guess we should have seen it coming, because the timer has been broken for some time. We could start the dryer, get distracted, and four hours later it would still be running. We would have some slightly singed clothing, but all else seemed OK. In retrospect, the motor was probably working overtime because the timer wasn't giving it a break, and we weren't remembering to do it ourselves.

The landlord came by and pronounced it officially dead. He said he would have to get a new one, and it would take a few days. How can we complain, really? This is no small investment, and it certainly isn't something we can demand he do RIGHT NOW.

So, we figured we'd be hanging our clothes to dry for a while. After all, it's better for the environment, right?

Of course, it would help if it wasn't raining, and we could use the line to dry clothes. Draping wet clothing all over the house, when it's already hot and muggy, is no fun.

And then of course there;'s the fact the Lucas is vomiting. All over everything. And I mean everything. He says that even though there is a bowl and a bucket by the couch, he feels paralysed and can't move to vomit into them. So, he vomits wherever. And everywhere.

Pretty much every piece of bedding is 'in the wash'. Which, for the time being, means in a garbage bag. The worse of it I am trying to actually wash and hang to dry – because the idea of having vomit on things sitting in a plastic bag for an indefinite amount of time is pretty unappealing. So I am washing and hanging what I can. But there is just no way I can catch up. It takes too long for things to dry and they are getting dirty too fast.

So, for now, this experiment in reduced environmental impact through life without a dryer has gone bust.

Friday, July 20, 2007

It looks like I might be getting into some advertising sales in the near future. You all know I am a salesperson by nature – even when I don't try, I am usually selling something one way or another. But this is a bit different. I need to approach businesses, not individuals. I may decide to use a company that does B2B Telemarketing, that way I know that I am getting the best results. After all, if Microsoft Business Solutions can do it, shouldn't' we all?

Last week we started the whole process of getting Lucas's two front teeth braced, so they can be straightened out. Interestingly, because of the shape of his mouth and the fact that they only want to brace two teeth, the orthodontist said she could only do it by affixing a retainer into the roof of his mouth to hook the braces to.

I'm no orthodontist, but I have my suspicions if this was just a 'trick' to get Lucas to agree to having the same kind of expander in his mouth that we tried last summer. Who knows.

Whatever the intension, it was with trepidation that I booked the three appointments for Lucas to have separators put in, followed by impressions of his mouth one week later, and then to have the retainer inserted. I wasn't going to not try, but I definitely felt that it could go badly, like last time.

Yesterday was 'the big day'. Everything was ready, and Lucas had his appointment to have the retainer inserted. At the recommendation of the office staff, I left for Starbucks and Lucas went in by himself. They told me to come back in about 45 minutes. I left my cell phone number in case anything went wrong, and left.

So when the phone rang 25 minutes later, my heart sank. I was pretty sure they were going to tell me he was refusing to lie down or something like that. After all., that's what he did last time.

Instead, they were calling to tell me he was done! And that he had done great! What a relief!

So now, Lucas has this crazy contraption in the roof of his mouth. They haven't added the braces yet, because they want to give him time to get used to the expander before they start moving teeth. He is having some iissues with drooling, and has to relearn to say some sounds, but otherwise he is doing great.

I am so proud. I know that part of it is that it is a year later and he's more mature, but part of it is Lucas working on dealing with anxiety. He did relaxation techniques in the waiting room, and talked a lot about how things were going to be fine. He really handled it well.

So, of course, we made a quick trip to EB games after for him to choose a rewards. Go Lucas!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

I don't know about you, but I feel like I struggle every day to get my daily requirements for vegetables. Fruits, nor problem, but I feel like I am choking back veggies most of the time. I have tried juices, dips, salads, sautes, sandwhiches, sauces - you name it. Whatever I can do to make veggies taste good, I do. But I still don't care for them. I think people who claim to love veggies are lying. Heh.

I have joked for along time that I would like to just take a pill that would cover my daily vegetables. Close enough, My Daily Veggies offers a drink mix made of dehydrated whole vegetables that you just mix, drink, and take care of two servings of vegetables. How perfect is that? I haven't got my sample yet, so I can't comment on how they taste, but I'm really hoping it will be relatively good.

You can get a seven day My Daily Veggies Free Sample, and you only pay one dollar for shipping. Seems to me, that's a pretty sweet deal. And you can get a good sense of how the beverage tastes. I've signed up, and am waiting for my sample. My body will be so happy to get the veggies.

You can take this supplement with you anywhere. Great for camping food or on the go food, all you need is one small packet and some water. They also provide some great recipes on the site for dips and spreads made with the drink mix. Who can't use a new dip to take to pot lucks? Yum.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Well Ok I'm not sure if the Pacific Ocean counts as the 'high seas' but it sounded good. And it wasn't me having the adventure, it was the boys.

Some good friends of ours have been living in Paraguay for the last year. They are back, but are staying in Victoria until their apartment is ready in August. So, they invited the kids over there for the night. Steve and I were worried, at first, that our friends didn't know what they were getting themselves into with Coram. And that Coram didn't know what he was getting himself into, either. However, our friends reminded us that they have known Coram for a long time, and have taken care of him many times, and they felt they had a good idea of what he was about. Coram really wanted to go, and I really wanted him to have the chance to go and be successful with it, so we agreed.

It was really nice to have a night off, although it was a Monday night, so we didn't party or anything. I'm not sure we even remember how, to be honest. We did go for a nice dinner, and it was nice not to have any bedtime conflicts to resolve and no 8 year old climbing into the bed at 2 am.

The boys had a fantastic time. Coram had no issues at ALL. I had wondered if he might change his mind at the last minute, but her literally just waved, said 'Bye Mom' and ran off onto the ferry with our friends. Apparently he ate a new food, and bedtime was a breeze.

When then got home the next day, both boys were sad and wanted to go back to Victoria. Coram cried himself to sleep, begging me to call them the next day and ask if he could go back. So much for my thinking he might have a hard time being away from home.

Friday, July 13, 2007

OK folks, I have it all figure out – you too can lose five pounds in two days. Here are the steps:

1)Make friends with people with small children. The smaller the better, really. The more helpless the child is, the more likely your friend will need help and call you.2)Wait for said friend to get a horrible flu. The sicker the better. A really good flu includes vomiting AND diarrhoea. Of course, we can't be too choosy. Take whatever flu you can get.3)When your friend becomes too sick to care for her children, she'll call you (this is why the younger the children the better – seven year olds are pretty self sufficient, your sick friend might not call for help)4)Care for children. Keep them with you as long as possible. Make sure to do lots of cuddling. Maybe even share a drinking glass.5)Sit back and wait for your reward. You should have that flu within a couple of days. Then you can just embrace all of the vomiting and diarrhoea knowing that you, too, can drop five pounds in two days.6)As an added bonus, you might get delusional and write poetry, like the following:

Monday, July 09, 2007

I guess one of the drawbacks of using a site like Blogger or a script like Wordpress when blogging is the lack of control you can have. What I did not know, and I have been blogging for over a year, is that the site sets links in my comments field to 'nofollow'. What this means is search engines will not follow the links from my comments. So, search engines that are cawling my blogs do not follow links in comments, and thus there is no link love for commenter.

I read about a movement called 'DoFollow'. This movement changes the settings so that the links in comments are following by search engine spiders. This means that commenters can boost their pagerank when they comment on DoFollow blogs.

Thankfully, there are ways to fix the scripts so that you can have a DoFollow blog even with Wordpress, Blogger, or other sites that automatically set links to nofollow.

I found extremely simple directions to this on Tips 4 Blogspot. Even me, an admitted technotwit and technophobe, could follow these directions.

Once you have changed to DoFollow, consider adding one of these free logos by Randa Clay to your blog, so readers will know that you have joined the movement.

At work last week, I was talking with a customer about our mutual urge to have another baby. I gather it's a common problem for those of us with older kids.

She said to me, 'Every time I think I want another baby, I tell myself I should just stay awake for three days straight to be reminded of what it was like.'

So true. I told her I would keep that in mind.

So when I got a call from a sick friend at 2 am the other day, with a desperate plea to pick up her toddler and three month old, it was sort of a trial run of what it might be like to have a baby again.

I slept in twenty minute bursts between, between replacing a missing soother in a sleeping baby's mouth. I got up to mix formula while the baby screamed. Our final wake up was at about 6:30 am.

I looked at myself in the mirror, and marvelled at the puffy eyes and sleepy face. I figured that is what I must have looked like for three years straight when the boys were babies.

I took the baby to work, and left Steve with the toddler and our two boys. He spent the day back and forth from the park, and running interference between the older kids. The toddler was great – she listened to directions, and even napped.

At work, the baby cooed at customers, hung out with me at the cash desk, and generally won people over. Until he got sleepy. Right when the store got busy. I bounced and shushed him in between helping customers. He'd get to sleep, but the next conversation with a customer would wake him up. I was so relieved when a friend came by and offered to take him home with her until I was finished work.

At the end of the day, Steve was exhausted, and so I was I. Oddly, I still have that urge for another baby. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

Friday, July 06, 2007

My loyal readers may have noticed a recent addition to my blog. They are posts labelled as 'sponsored', and they usually don't relate to the day to day life of me and the family.

So what are these posts? They are paid assignments, that I have gotten through Pay Per Post, one of the first companies ever to offer ads on blogs.

In the short time since I joined Pay Per post, I have made a cool $55. I think this is a pretty sweet deal, considering my AdSense has made me all of $12 in a year (and no, AdSense people, that was NOT a request for people to click my ads).

Pay Per Post currently has over 60 opportunities for approved bloggers to earn from posting to their blog. But if you want to do this, I highly recommend logging in several times a day, because the really high paying opportunities go fast.

So far, I have been accumulating my funds in Paypal, waiting for the day when we need some emergency funds. We all know those days come (like when my car became a special needs car and I had to buy a BCAA membership on the spot...ahh, memories).

If you have a blog, you can join too. In fact, you can review my post by clicking the link below, and start your earnings off with a $7.50 kick. So, why not?

Thursday, July 05, 2007

I have so much I want to say lately, that I have a hard time narrowing it down to one pithy post, so I don't write at all. Is that a kind of writers block? I mean, I know there is the kind wher you can't think of anything to say, but is this common, too?

For example, I found out there is a Kwik-E-Mart in the Lower Mainland and for some bizarre reason I am totally excited about it. I guess it's because The Simpson's has been a part of my life for so many years. I don't watch it regularly, but come on this show has been around since I was in high school and we all joked about it by our lockers in the morning. So, though it's a bit of a trek from here, I'm going to have to go out to get a Squishee and some pink doughnuts.

Lucas got accepted into the Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach program for a two week camp this summer. I am super excited about that, too. I can't wait to see what he learns there.

Also, we had a big barbecue with Steve's family this last weekend. It was to celebrate all the birthdays including Canada's. We didn't get up to Mount Pleasant and the multiple bouncy castles, but we had a really nice day. And on Monday me and Steve and the boys went to Mount Pleasant pool and park, where I got these awesome pictures of the boys.

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I am a happily married mother of 2 wonderful boys who are energetic and brilliant and keep me jumping. When they were wee babies I was isolated at home with them and turned to the internet for community. I have spent the last 5 years learning all about the highs and lows of internet marketing, and I know I have much, much more to learn. I am aspiring towards earning a full time living online.
I am also an aspiring speech therapist. I have partially completed my degree and am on parenting/stress leave/hiatus for an indefinite amount of time. I don't feel I have abandoned the goal - just set it aside for a bit.
I can be found on several internet forums with the username 'Payingforschool', which I am doing both financially and psychologically despite the fact that I am not presently attending school.
I am also active on several parenting forums, especially ones associated with cleft lip and palate, as my first son was born with both. My younger son was recently diagnosed as high-functioning Autistic, so I have set myself on a path to learn all I can about this condition.